Proxmox VE’s popularity is rising, leading to a surge in production deployments.
As the number of virtual machines (VMs) grows, a robust backup strategy is essential to prevent data loss from disk failures, accidental deletions, faulty updates, or ransomware.
As of May 21, 2026, the latest stable release is Proxmox VE 9.2.
The Proxmox VE built-in backup tool, vzdump, provides basic VM and container backups. However, it has limitations, particularly for large infrastructures and frequently changing workloads.
It performs full backups and lacks deduplication, with basic scheduling and retention options. Organizations managing large environments often require advanced features.
This article examines native Proxmox tooling and explores third-party solutions that provide extended data protection capabilities.
What Is Proxmox Backup Server?
Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) is the native backup solution offered by Proxmox for VMs and containers in Proxmox VE, and it can also protect physical hosts.
PBS is installed on a separate, dedicated host rather than on the Proxmox VE node and runs a Debian-based system, similar to Proxmox VE itself.
There is no limit on the number of protected workloads.
PBS differs from a simple vzdump archive and supports more features:
- Deduplication: Identical data chunks are stored once, with references, to save storage space when protecting similar VMs and data.
- Incremental backups: The first backup is always full; subsequent jobs copy only data that has changed since the last run.
- Backup encryption: Data is encrypted on the client side with the AES-256 algorithm in GCM mode before being transferred over the network, and backups remain encrypted on the target storage.
- Backup verification: Checksums and scheduled verification jobs help confirm that backups are consistent and recoverable.
Proxmox Backup Server system requirements are easy to meet.
The vendor recommends a modern 64-bit CPU with at least 4 cores, a minimum of 4 GB of RAM plus roughly 1 GB per TB of datastore capacity, 32 GB of disk space for the operating system (OS) and dedicated storage for backup data with sufficient performance.
To evaluate the solution, you can run it on 2 CPU cores and 2 GB of RAM.
Proxmox Backup vs Snapshot
Snapshots and backups solve different problems, and although they may seem similar, they are not interchangeable.
A VM snapshot saves the state of a VM at a specific point in time and lets you roll back to that point after making changes. No separate data copy is created, so if the underlying storage fails, the VM data is lost.
A VM backup is an independent copy of the entire VM that can be kept on the same storage, a different one, or an offsite location.
If the source VM is damaged or a data loss event occurs, you can restore the machine and its data from the backup.
Follow the recommendations below to correctly use snapshots and backups:
- Use a snapshot to save a point-in-time state of a VM, with the ability to quickly roll back to that specific VM state. This can be used before a software update, installing new software, patches, or testing something.
- Use backups for data protection with retention so you can recover if the source storage or source VM fails. Backups are used for disaster recovery as a part of a broader data protection strategy.
Best Proxmox Backup Software to Consider
Below are five solutions recommended for Proxmox VM backup, covering what each tool is, its key features for Proxmox, and how it is licensed.
Proxmox Backup Server
PBS is the native Proxmox backup solution for VMs and containers. It integrates with Proxmox VE and is managed directly in the Proxmox VE web interface. As of April 29, 2026, the latest release is Proxmox Backup Server v4.2.
The main features include client-side AES-256-GCM encryption, deduplication, incremental backups, and scheduled verification jobs.
Supported sources are Proxmox VMs, Linux Containers (LXC), and physical hosts. For offsite copies, PBS can synchronize datastores to a second PBS instance, LTO tape devices, and S3-compatible cloud storage.
The software is free and open source under the AGPLv3, with no limits on the number of protected items. An optional paid subscription provides access to the stable enterprise repository and vendor support.
NAKIVO Agentless Proxmox Backup
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is a comprehensive data protection solution that supports Proxmox VM backup alongside other virtual, physical and cloud platforms: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Nutanix AHV, AWS EC2, Microsoft 365 and physical Windows and Linux machines.
The vendor provides a dedicated Proxmox backup solution with agentless host-level support.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication v11.2.1 was released on June 3, 2026. Proxmox VE support was introduced in v11.0 (starting from Proxmox VE 8.0), and currently covers versions 8.0 through 9.1.
Key features include image-level VM backup and replication, block-level incremental backups with native change tracking, instant VM recovery, file-level restore, automated backup verification and immutable backups for ransomware protection.
NAKIVO offers flexible licensing, which includes perpetual and subscription options: Subscriptions are counted per workload, while perpetual licenses are based on the number of sockets on virtualization hosts.
You can try it for free and test all the features of NAKIVO Backup & Replication in your environment.
NAKIVO serves over 16,000 customers in 191 countries, supported by 3,000 partners worldwide.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is a premier choice for small and medium-sized businesses, providing robust ransomware protection for both physical and virtual environments.
Veeam Backup & Replication
Veeam Backup & Replication is an enterprise data protection platform with a broad ecosystem of supported environments.
Proxmox support was added in version 12.2, and Proxmox VE versions 8.2–9.1 are currently covered; LXC containers are not supported at this time.
Key features for Proxmox include host-level backup of VMs on standalone hosts and clusters, backup copies to secondary locations and recovery when needed. Object-based cloud storage can be used as a backup target.
Instant VM recovery can start Proxmox VM backups as VMware vSphere, Hyper-V or Nutanix AHV machines, while native replication of Proxmox VMs is not yet available.
Veeam Backup & Replication is licensed through the Veeam Universal License, which utilizes a portable subscription model counted per protected workload.
One license instance covers one Proxmox VM, with Proxmox support included at no additional plug-in cost.
A free Community Edition is available for smaller environments to protect up to 10 workloads, while multiple paid editions offer varying levels of support.
Vinchin Backup & Recovery
Vinchin Backup & Recovery is an agentless backup solution that supports more than fifteen virtualization platforms, including Proxmox VE.
It suits small and medium-sized businesses, particularly environments running alternative hypervisors. The latest public version is v9.0 with support for Proxmox VE v7.2 - 9.0.
Key features for Proxmox VE include agentless forever-incremental backups, data deduplication, compression and scheduled jobs.
The solution supports file-level and full VM restore, instant VM recovery, cloud archive, offsite copy and virtual-to-virtual (V2V) migration between supported platforms.
Licensing is quote-based and tied to protected hosts or sockets. A free trial is available for a limited number of VMs, and the vendor positions the product as a low-cost option for mixed environments.
Vinchin Backup & Recovery is often cited as an ideal choice for complex, multi-hypervisor environments.
Storware Backup & Recovery
Storware Backup & Recovery is an agentless solution that protects a wide range of environments. Beyond Proxmox VMs, it covers multiple virtual, container and cloud platforms.
The product traces its roots to the open-source Storware vProtect project. Storware Backup & Recovery is currently at version 7.5, offering official support for Proxmox VE versions 7.0 through 9.1.
Key features of this Proxmox backup software include agentless VM backup through the Proxmox API and protection of LXC containers and files. Data deduplication and compression are available.
Policy-based scheduling, granular restore and disaster recovery plans with automated backup verification extend the feature list.
Storware Backup & Recovery can be used through subscription licensing, with models based on protected workloads, instances or data capacity.
Pricing is not publicly disclosed, but the vendor provides personalized quotes. A free trial is available for evaluation.
The solution is positioned as a versatile, multi-platform data protection tool for heterogeneous and open-source-heavy environments.
Tool comparison
Key Features to Look for in a Proxmox Backup Solution
When comparing Proxmox backup solutions, pay attention to the following capabilities:
- Host-level image-based backup via Proxmox API: This enables efficient backup of entire VMs. If you use LXC containers, ensure the solution also provides dedicated container backup support.
- Incremental, deduplicated backups: These reduce storage consumption and speed up subsequent jobs.
- Scheduling and flexible retention: To automate the Proxmox VM backup process and keep the recovery points you need.
- Flexible recovery options: When deciding how to restore a Proxmox VM from a backup, look for a solution that can recover full machines or individual files, depending on the situation.
- Support for multiple storage types: The 3-2-1 backup rule recommends storing copies of data in different locations, including the cloud, so that recovery remains possible if one location is damaged.
Conclusion
Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) is an excellent choice for many self-hosted environments since it effectively handles essential VM and container backups at no licensing cost.
However, larger or mixed infrastructures often require the advanced capabilities of commercial solutions.
NAKIVO Backup & Replication and Veeam Backup & Replication are robust options for organizations managing mixed environments.
Alternatively, Vinchin and Storware offer strong value for users prioritizing cross-platform migration and open-source support.
Ultimately, there is no single 'best' tool, you need to assess your specific feature requirements and scalability needs before making a final decision.
